EAS pedestals are commonly found at exits of facilities, such as libraries, department stores and the like, and include, within front and rear covers, antennas (coils) transmitting and receiving radiant energy into and from a surveillance zone adjacent the pedestal to detect active, i.e., non-deactivated, EAS markers (tags). Typically, the markers are deactivated at a checkout counter. Where a party seeks to remove a tagged article from the facility fraudulently, the marker is in an activated state and, when the article enters the surveillance zone, an alarm condition is generated by the EAS system.
EAS pedestals presently known are quite labor-intensive in manufacturing assembly and repair. Common construction for pedestals is either a routed center section that contains the coils and is covered with a thermoformed skin or formica, or a molded center section using a process suitable for producing large housings. Bumpers are used to secure the covers to a main chassis, which complicates initial factory assembly and requires almost a complete disassembly of the pedestal to access the coils and printed circuit boards when field service repair is necessary following pedestal installation at a facility.